Signal Fire
by StraylightRevelation
Summary: A faction of transformers neither Autobot nor Decepticon have come to Earth on a valiant mission. Will this spell trouble for either of the two already waring sides?  just read...
1. Chapter One: Rude Awakening

**Authors Note: **I gave this story a T rating becasue there will be violence and some crude language in chapters after this one. If that doesn't bother you please enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **As much as I wish I did I do not own anything to do with the Transformers franchise I only borrow the characters for fun.

**Chapter One: Rude Awakening**

Bumblebee awoke from stasis with a start as the voice of Optimus Prime come over his communication link.

"Bumblebee, come in Bumblebee, do you read me?"

The little Autobot was currently sitting in Sam's driveway and had been enjoying a good rest but naturally something had happened.

The Camaros engine gave a slightly annoyed rev before replying, "I hear you loud and clear, sir. What seems to be the problem?"

"I need you to get Sam and Mikaela and come to the base. Something has come to my immediate attention so I am calling everyone together. Come quickly."

Before Bumblebee could reply Optimus terminated the communication link. Bumblebee paused for a moment, wondering what could possibly be so urgent to call an immediate meeting. All the Decepticons that had come to Earth where destroyed, gone M.I.A., or, in Starscreams case, had jettisoned from the planet. Even that had been months ago and things had been relatively quiet since then. Bumblebee gave himself a mental shrug as he pulled into a side ally by the house and transformed. He crept carefully up the walk and over to Sam's bedroom window.

The boy was currently an immobile lump beneath his covers obviously still dead asleep. Bee gave a mechanical chirrup in an attempt to bring the teen to consciousness but it only caused him to roll over with a grunt and start snoring loudly. He tried again, a computerized moan escaping him. All though his vocals had been repaired awhile back the yellow Autobot still preferred communicating through radio and mechanized sounds. Sam did not stir so Bumblebee turned on his head lights and shown them down on the boys face.

He groaned and withdrew his head benath the covers. Bee gave a quiet chuckle. Sam's reaction reminded the bot of a turtle he had once come across on a road. The creature had pulled into its shell when Bee had picked it up to move it. In a final attempt the camaro reached down and picked up a handful of pebbles of course a pebble to the bot was a rock to a human but time was pressing and Bee had to get Sam moving without waking the boy's parents.

They still had no idea that their son's car was actually an alien robot. Though they still couldn't figure out how the 1976 camaro had come home one day as a brand spanking new 2008. When asked, Sam had just shrugged and plead stupidity. That aside Bee took a stone from one hand and tossed it through the open window. The projectile bounced off the humans sleeping for causing him to sit up with a start and look wildly around before spotting Bumblebee at the window.

"What are you doing?" Sam hissed looking over at the clock then back at Bee. "It's two 'o' clock in the morning! You lose a screw or something?"

The mech shook his head before quietly replying "Urgent message form Optimus, hurry Sam we still need to get Mikaela."

Sam got out of bed. "All right Bumblebee, head back to the drive, I'll meet you there…" he paused. "And for God's sake try and use the path! My dad is going insane!"

Bumblebee suppressed a laugh and moved back to the road before transforming.

**Authors Note:** Yes Im aware that this was a short chapter but there is more to come! Since this is my first Transformers fanfic please don't flame it to death until you read more. Please Review!


	2. Chapter Two: Reanimation

**Authors Note: **Chapter two lads and gents! Enjoy, embrace it love it and PLEASE review it! No flames though...if you think it down right stinks just don't comment flaming is MEAN. That was a public annocment...MY BIRD JUST BIT ME!!! Ow...anywhoo...Enjoy!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Transformers despite the fact I might sometimes think I do. I just borrow these lovely characters so I can play with them!

**Chapter Two: Reanimation**

It was going on three 'o' clock by the time Sam, Mikaela, and Bumblebee arrived at the gigantic warehouse located in a small patch of woodland many miles from any human settlement. This out of the way warehouse was a prime spot and with a few modifications had become a great base of operatins for the Autobots. Bumblebee came to a halt just outside the large door, let his passengers out and transformed.

The threesome entered the brightly lit hanger the other Autobots where already present. Ratchet was in the back of the hanger, his back to the new arrivals. Sparks occasionally flew over his shoulders as the medic worked busily on something laid out on the huge table in front of him. Ironhide sat nearby fiddling with the buttons on one of his cannons and giving it a rough cleaning. Optimus Prime turned away from the gigantic computer screen he had been watching to greet the new arrivals.

"Bumblebee, Sam, Mikaela, I am glad you where able to come on such short notice."

"Like I had a choice." Sam grumbled wearily. "It's kinda hard to ignore something when a giant alien robot is throwing rocks through your bedroom window at 2 am."

Optimus looked questioningly at the three as Mikaela sniggered and Bumblebee gave a mechanical chirrup accompanied by a shrug. The Autobot leader shook his head and gave a dismissive wave of his hand. "Never mind. We have more important things to discuss. Everyone listen up."

Ironhide came to stand beside his leader and Ratchet turned away from his work, pushing the protective wear he'd had over his optics while working up out of the way. The medic looked like he had not gone into stasis in days but that didn't matter as soon as Optimus began to speak he was at full attention.

"As we all know the government has become increasingly persistent in their efforts to obtain Jazz's remains from us. Giving our friend to the authoritative humans is simply not an option under any circumstance." Optimus paused for a moment. "However within the last few days we have caught numerous government workers lurking around the vicinity of the base. We have come to the conclusion that since we will not surrender Jazz they are planning to try and take him when our backs are turned."

Ironhide spoke up sounding annoyed. "I still don't see what the problem is," he growled. "These humans are becoming a potential threat so why don't we just give a lil taste of the firepower their messin with and be done with it?"

"Ironhide do you have a loose bolt in your cranial cavity?" Ratchet inquired picking up a screw driver and stepping toward the other bot. Ironhide stepped back only to bump into Bumblebee.

"I don't think a loose bolt is the problem here Ratch'. I think old Ironhead's memory banks aren't functioning as well as they used to. Otherwise he would have remembered that we, as Autobots, do not harm humans." The little mech quipped.

"Ironhead?" The larger mech growled. "Say that again squirt I dare you."

Sam and Mikaela both moved to a safe distance knowing that if and when the two started scuffling they wanted to be well out of the way.

"What's wrong older timer? Forget what I said already?" The yellow bot shoved him in the chest plate and he stepped back.

"Watch yourself Bumblingbee or your gona find yourself without vocalizers again."

Bumblebee lifted a finger to Ironhide in what Sam had told him was called a 'one fingered salute' it was some kind of offensive human gesture and apparently Ironhide knew it. He gave an angry snarl and charged Bumblebee. The smaller bot side stepped at the last second and Ironhide ended up ramming the wall. Bumblebee's radio clicked on and he broke into a chorus of "Can't Touch This' and did a little victory dance. Ironhide was quick to come back though and he rugby tackled the smaller bot from behind. The two began rolling around like kids fighting on the play ground throwing insults as well as punches. This went on for a few moments before Optimus intervened,

"Enough!" He shouted pulling the two bots apart and standing between them. "We are wasting what time we have and I will not have my men fighting amongst themselves like Decepticons!"

Both bots stepped back from one another as their leader gave both of them a hard look. "Sorry Optimus I guess it got a little out of control." Ironhide growled apologetically

"It will not happen again sir." Bumblebee added.

"Good," Optimus replied simply as Bumblebee and Ironhide gave each other apologetic and respectful nods, "back to more pressing matters."

Sam and Mikaela came back to stand at Bumblebee's feet now that the fighting was over and Optimus continued. "As I was saying the humans are becoming a persistent problem but thanks greatly to Ratchet's ceaseless work over the last human months Jazz could very possibly be brought back online."

Ratchet Moved over to the gigantic table and removed the gigantic white cover from what he had been working on. There, lying unmoving on the table was Jazz. The silver bot was almost completely restored. Ratchet had done an astounding job with putting his fallen brother in arms back together. The bot simply looked like he was in recharge mode.

"The final and most pressing matter is that proof of a shard of the All Spark aside from the one I took from Megatrons chest after his destruction. This other shard all though far less powerful than the cube itself was still holds great power."

"We believe that when Starscream jettisoned from the planet it was with every intention of coming back at a later date." Ratchet put in. "We get reports of other transformers coming to Earth every so often and all though there are many Autobots among the stars there are also still Decepticons."

"It is our belief that Starscream is gathering his own ilk from among the cosmos and returning to the planet to seek his vengeance and obtain the shards power for his own means." Optimus continued. "This is why I am utilizing what little power is left within this shard to revive Jazz."

"The scans I preformed on the metal convey that it still holds enough power to reignite his spark and then it will be useless." Ratchet explained as he carefully took the shard from Optimus and stepped toward the table.

"Wait!" Sam spoke up suddenly. "There's something I still don't quite understand. If the shard you have only has enough juice left in it to bring Jazz back how powerful is the one that's still out there? I mean so the Decepticons bring back one bot. It wouldn't be Megatron because that would mean Starscream would have to give up his position as leader right?

Bumblebee took the liberty of fielding this question. "Starscream may not want Megatron back but there are a lot of Decepticons that would give their spark to see their leader rise again."

"You must also remember that transformers can be anything. They could take the form of deep sea machinery and retrieve Megatron with ease. Now time is pressing so can we please get back to the immediate matter at hand?" Ratchet snapped.

He waited a few moments in case there was more conversation. When nothing more came Optimus gave him a nod and the medic stepped up to the motionless bot and carefully placed the shard in his chest. Almost immediately there was a flash of brilliant light that caused bot and human alike to shield eyes and optics. No sooner did the light ignite it faded. The sentient beings all stood in awe as they watched the unfolding events. Tendrils of electricity snaked their way across the silver bots arms, legs, and torso as a spark began to burn brightly deep within his chest. The first signs of life where small and subtle.

First gears began to turn; fingers gave a small twitch followed by the feet. Then as if on cue the protective chest plate closed and the silver mech sat up as blue optics flared and came online. Jazz leapt from the table and took a few confident steps forward. Optics scanning the bots and humans around him he crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back slightly on his feet.

He tilted his head to the side and vocalizers flared to life "What's crackin lil bitches?"

**Author's Note:** Yes I brought Jazz back haha! The dynamics of it might have been a lil off but i did it none the less! Please stay tuned for more and REVIEW!


	3. Chapter Three: Signal Fire

**Authors Note:** Hah I give you more story aren't we all happy? Plus its a LONG CHAPTER! Hurray! And as a bonus you get to meet some of MY characters in this chapter YAY! Love them or I will poke you in the eye with a pointy stick... Anywho..enjoy!

**Disclaimer:** I still don't own anything to do with Transformers but I still borrow the characters to play! Firefly, Crossfire, Twobit, Firewall and Lydia are all MY origional characters. Any names or likeness to other characters in other stories or to other transformers that existed either in stories or in the cartoons is strictly coincedence.

**Chapter Three: Signal Fire**

Three weeks had passed since Jazz had been brought back online and there had been no further leads on the location of the remaining All Spark shard. The Autobots had been ever vigilant in their searching. Patrols ran frequently and around the clock ranging from the coast all the way out to the desert lands of Nevada and Utah.

Sam however had decided to take some time off to have a normal day. Bumblebee had been assigned to costal patrol for the day so Jazz had opted to stick with Sam for the time being. Sam couldn't help but think that the disguised bot enjoyed the awed stares and double takes he got from the humans as he passed smoothly by cruising down Main Street. Sam couldn't help but have a bit of an inflated ego himself. He had Mikaela at his side and even when Bumblebee had to go off on some kind of assignment he still ended up behind the wheel of a slick sports car. As far as the teen was concerned life was good.

They pulled smoothly into a parallel parking spot outside a store front; the two teens exited the transformed Solstice and disappeared into an electronics store. The two teens had only been in the store for a few minutes when a tremor coursed through the ground causing the merchandise on the shelves to shutter. There was a moment's pause in which the two teens stood rooted to the spot staring up at the ceiling as if it were going to fall. Then there was another more violent tremor and outside the store front the disguised Jazz had set off his alarm.

Lights flashing and sound blaring anyone would simply believe that the tremors had triggered the sport cars security system. Sam and Mikaela knew better. Something was wrong big time. Both teens moved out of the store and into the panicked crowd on the sidewalk. There where people running up the street some casting terrified looks over their shoulders. Suddenly a small truck came rocketing around the corner and up the street. The driver wasn't visible and the truck showed no intent of slowing. Just behind the truck a red mech that Sam had never seen before came barreling around the street corner. The transformers battle mask was down and all the boy could make out of his face were two bright green optics shining through slits in the armor.

The bot did an about face a few paces from where Sam and Mikaela stood rooted to the spot. The small truck it had been following disappeared around the far corner. It lifted an arm as its hand transformed into a cannon. Sam noticed the creature looked awkward as if thrown into a trial by fire situation the mech was learning his own weaponry for the first time. His eyes were drawn to the sky as the sound of jet engines reached his ears. As he caught sight of the jet heading towards them flying low he thought for a terrifying moment that Starscream had returned to fight already. But then he realized that these two where different one was blue with red stripes the other black and red.

The black and red made a b-line for the red bot transforming and hitting him dead on the big bot sent the other flying backwards into the buildings at the end of the street.

"Give it up FireFLAKE… you have no significant training. Your spark is mine!" The transformed jet snarled as he approached the bot.

He pushed himself back to his feet, debris sliding from his shoulder armor. Green optics narrowed defiantly beneath a dusty battle mask. The mystery bot fired several shots from his cannon. The jet threw up his shield against the barrage and the battered bot took advantage of his opponent's temporary distraction.

Transforming into a Jeep Grand Cherokee he gunned down the street the small truck had disappeared down.

"Oh no you don't rougeling scum." He snarled and turned to the smaller jet that had transformed and landed on a nearby rooftop. "Thundercracker stay close to my left wing, this ends now!" Both jets took off in hot pursuit of the fleeing vehicle.

Sam watched them disappear, "Jazz we gotta help that bot or he's gonna get toasted!"

The cars doors swung open and no sooner had the two teens climbed in then they peeled away from the curb and up the street. They quickly caught up with the jets and no sooner had this been accomplished then the smaller jet broke away. He transformed and landed in front of Jazz.

"I thought I detected one of you Autobot slag heaps skulking around the area." He peered through the windshield. "You even brought a couple of your fleshling pets with you! This is gonna be fun."

Jazz opened his doors and Sam and Mikaela climbed out. "You two find cover. This won't take long." The silver bot transformed and the two began circling each other like boxers in a ring.

"So Autobot, tell me, last I heard reports said Megatron had done you in."

"Yeah, well last I heard your slag heap of a former leader got his spark handed to him by a human." Jazz retorted.

The Decepticon gave an enraged roar and charged but Jazz was quick to side step. He landed a hard blow on the back of Thundercracker's head knocking him into the ground. He scrambled back to his feet an angry snarl escaping his vocals. He charged again and this time Jazz met him head on. The shear impact of the hit caused the windows closest to the fighting to shatter.

People fled screaming as the two creatures fought. Suddenly there were two mechanized calls echoed from up the street. One was a drawn out wail of pain, the other a victorious roar. Both Jazz and the Decepticon paused.

"I must be there to witness the fall of that slag heap Signal Fire!" The Decepticon growled reverently. "I'll deal with you later Autobrat!" With that the jet shoved Jazz away, transformed, and flew off toward the sound. Jazz transformed and burned rubber after the Decepticon. Sam and Mikaela looked at each other and bolted after the Solstice.

Within a minute the sounds of fierce fighting reached their ears and the nameless red mech appeared along with the big black and red Decepticon. The mystery mech was in sorry shape but he still fought valiantly. The Decepticon landed a crushing blow to the mechs face and sent him flying into an alleyway across the street. Suddenly the big jet turned his attention up the street as the small truck the unidentified mech had been after came roaring up the street.

Hot on the trucks tail was the smaller jet Jazz had been fighting and almost right behind the jet came a very angry Jazz. "Get back here and fight Decepticon punk!" The silver bot tackled Thundercracker landing a heavy blow across his head.

The truck barreled on toward the other Decepticon. The big jet raised a huge fist, "I will crush you soft body!" The person bailed out the passenger side door at the last moment and the truck slid toward the big Decepticon. "Get 'im Crossfire!" The person yelled and the truck transformed landing an uppercut on the big jet. The big red and black bot stumbled back with a snarl. He back handed the new bot sending him flying and headed for the alleyway he'd knocked the first bot into.

He stopped momentarily, "Thundercracker get the human will you?" he disappeared and the other jet threw Jazz off and lunged for the human only to catch a plasma shot to the chest from the truck bot followed by a left hook from Jazz.

The Decepticon tried to regain his feet but the other two bots where relentless. Every time the mech tried to reach for the human he was met by another blow. However on one last desperate attempt the jet broke through and caught the human sending the person sprawling on the pavement before Jazz caught him, slamming him into the side of a building. He leveled his weapon to the side of the blue and black jets head.

"Bad choice, attacking the human, punk." The silver bots weapon charged with a high pitched wine.

A split second before the weapon went off the Decepticon ducked and the wayward shot plowed into a building down the street. Jazz threw him to the ground aiming another shot but Thundercracker was quick, transforming he took off disappearing into the sky.

"Coward." Jazz growled staring after the fleeing jet as Sam and Mikaela ran over to the person he'd knocked.

The truck bot was already standing over the human like a huge robotic guard dog. The person sat up to reveal a girl roughly the age of the other teens. A few strands of light brown hair falling into her hazel eyes as she climbed to her feet. The bot offered her a hand as she stumbled a bit but it was waved away.

"Are you all right?" Mikaela asked as she and Sam approached.

The girl gave a start as if she had just noticed there were still other people around. "I'm fine." She replied before turning to address the bot again. "Crossfire, where's F…" A mechanized wail cut her short. The girl's eyes widened as the color drained from her face. "

No!" She yelled and bolted toward the alleyway the big Decepticon had disappeared down.

The bot she'd called Crossfire took the lead Jazz hot on his heels. Both disappeared down the alley and gun fire quickly ensued. The three teens appeared at the head of the alley just in time to see the other jet disappear into the sky. The girl pushed her way in front of the two mechs and stopped dead. The red mech that had been fighting so hard lay crumpled on the ground

"No!" She scrambled up to the bots head. "Please don't leave me." She pleaded. "Please say you haven't gone."

The bot groaned and green optics turned to the girl. He was in terrible shape his left arm was gone; sparks occasionally flying from the open socket, the mechs right foot hung by just a few wires, twitching involuntarily on occasion, and his battle mask was severely dented inward. He muttered something and gave a fruitless pull on the bottom of the dented armor.

"Hold on and we'll get it off." She turned to Crossfire. "Could you give me some help here?"

The bot nodded and walked to the back of the red mechs head. He grabbed the bottom of the mask with both hands. "Push." He said and the girl threw her weight into pushing the armor up as the bot pulled. A few moments passed before with a screech of metal the mask swung up off the bots face. He pushed himself into a sitting position pressing his remaining hand to his head with a groan.

He looked to the girl, "Are you all right Lydia?"

She nodded, "I'm fine, thanks to Crossfire and the silver bot there."

The red mech stood leaning heavily on his good leg he stumped forward. "Thanks for the help stranger. We'd have been a lost cause without it."

"No sweat. I'll take every chance I can get to kick Decepticon tail. The names Jazz and these two are Sam and Mikaela." He gestured to each teen as he introduced them.

Sam stepped forward looking up at the mech, "So…wait who are you guys? I mean are you Autobots?"

The mech looked down at the boy, his optics dim due to his low energy but still holding a certain fire in them as he spoke. "My name is Firefly and I am the leader of a small splinter group of transformers known as the Signal Fire. You have already met my first lieutenant Crossfire." He lifted his hand gesturing to the bot even as he sank to his knees with a low groan, broken foot sticking out oddly from his leg.

"Take it easy big bot; you're lucky to be online after that scuff." Crossfire growled positioning himself at his leader's side.

Suddenly another bot dropped down into the alleyway cause Sam and Mikaela to jump slightly in surprise. "Everyone I would like you to meet my special ops commander and scout, Twobit. He's got the sharpest adios, visuals and sensorys of any bot I've ever met." The red mech paused allowing himself a small smirk. "and if you ask nicely he makes an excellent cup holder."

The little dark green armored mech shot his commander a withering look as the others in the alley chuckled at the bots wise crack. "Never mind Twobit, what's the word?" The scout began speaking in rapid Cybertronian and gesturing wildly with his hands. Jazz listened for a moment before edging along the alley wall and carefully peering around the corner. He immediately drew his head back. "Oh, man!" The silver mech moved quickly back towards the other bots. "You aren't kidding about the cops squirt their comin down this way. Let's hall out of here shall we?"

"That's the best idea I've heard all day." Firefly growled as he pushed himself heavily to his feet. He stumped forward looking about the alleyway for something. "Now where did I leave that damned arm?" He scratched the top of his head acting severely confused as if he really had simply misplaced it instead of having had it blown off in a fire fight with a Decepticon bigger than he was. "Oh here it is." He pulled the missing extremity out of a pile of rubble and slung it over his shoulder. Sam couldn't help but cringe slightly and Mikaela simply gave the red mech a worried look.

"Doesn't that hurt?" Sam questioned.

Firefly paused contemplating it for a moment. "No not really…but I am going to need help relatively soon." In truth the Signal Fire commander was in a great deal of pain at the moment but he wasn't about to admit that to a human. He shifted the arm so it sat a little bit more comfortably on his shoulder.

"All right boys, its gonna take us awhile to get out of here especially since I'm incapable of transformation at the moment. I don't expect any of you to stay with me, just get out of the city and we can regroup on the outer limits. We must avoid detection by the humans as much as we can. If the they spot us, avoid confrontation by any means necessary. We don't want to hurt anyone understood?" There was a general nod from Crossfire and Twobit. "Good. Crossfire, I want you to take Lydia and keep her safe. I wouldn't put it past Firewall to try a sneak attack while I'm not at my best." He turned to Jazz, "Much thanks for your help again Jazz, I'm sure your itching to get out of here though."

Jazz gave a dismissive snort, "I'm not going anywhere Firefly, not with you doin your whole humpty dumpty act here. I contacted our medical officer Ratchet over a closed communication and he said he would meet us in a small housing development a couple miles outside of the city. He also warned me that there is a police line surrounding the city. Nothing is going in or out until they run their lil gauntlet."

Firefly's facial expression soured. "Go figure. Oh well, we will deal with that minor detail when we get to it and not before until then keep your heads down and stay hidden." The bot took a deep breath and straightened up as best he could, his damaged foot still sticking awkwardly out as he put weight on it. He stepped forward, head held high, "Signal Fire, let's move."


	4. Chapter Four: City Escape

**Authors Note:** Holy crap its an UPDATE!!! Its been MONTHS!!! Yeah I know this took a fraggin long time…Enjoy!

**Disclaimer:** I still don't own anything to do with Transformers but I still borrow the characters to play! Firefly, Crossfire, Twobit, Firewall, Solarflare, Falkly, and Lydia are all MY origional characters. Any names or likeness to other characters in other stories or to other transformers that existed either in stories or in the cartoons is strictly coincedence.

**Chapter Four: City Escape**

Firefly pressed himself against an alley wall as yet another police cruiser came patrolling down the deserted main street. It was the same thing every time one passed. Jazz and Crossfire would quickly park and their occupants would duck down so that the vehicles looked abandon, while Firefly and Twobit quickly found cover in an alley or, at one point, a parking garage. It had been nearly an hour and they had only managed to make it 15 blocks. Firefly was growing tired of this proverbial game of cat and mouse. The pain from his injuries was starting to get to his sensors and to top it all off he was half expecting Firewall to drop from the sky and finish him off at any moment.

Of course, Firefly wasn't about to give in and admit that the pain was getting worse. Not in front of his men and certainly not in front of a member of another faction. He might have almost gotten his spark handed to him but he still had his pride…for the most part. The red mech stumped out of the alley as the cruiser turned a corner at the end of the street and disappeared. Twobit came right behind him casting a weary glance down the street; the small mech gave a sub sonic moan, obviously worried about getting through all of the human activity.

"Steady there Crossfire." Firefly reassured the scout over a closed communication.

He only looked up at his commander momentarily and then moved forward on all fours, keeping himself low to the ground. Firefly followed close behind him as Jazz and Crossfire pulled out ahead and kept moving. The group managed to gain another six or seven blocks before Twobit suddenly stopped and emitted a low mechanized growl. Firefly watched apprehensively as a police cruiser pulled out of a side street and stopped in the road ahead of them.

In Jazz's cab, Sam grabbed Mikaela's arm, "This is _so_ not good." He muttered feeling his stomach climb into his throat.

The cruiser was empty, the number 643 visibal on its front, and the words "to punish and enslave where written in bright white paint on the rear side of the car.

"I thought he was dead!" Mikaela hissed, getting slightly nervous.

"He wasn't at the battle in mission city, the coward…he high tailed it before we even got there." Jazz growled through the radio. He slowly opened his doors, as if a sudden movement might cause the currently idle Deception to attack. "Go back with Crossfire and Lydia you two, this could get ugly."

Sam and Mikaela quietly exited the Solstice, edging their way back towards Crossfire without turning away from the idle cruiser. Firefly watched the two slide into the cab with Lydia and then turned his attention back to the police car, optics narrowing. He stepped forward, placing his severed arm in Crossfire's truck bed before moving to stand between the human occupied vehicle and the Decepticon. Jazz stayed on the wounded mechs left side as Twobit came to stand on his right. The silver Autobot maintained his vehicle quite seeing no reason to transform unless the faux cruiser made a move first.

Firefly opened a communication link, "What do you want Decepticon." It was a statement, not a question.

Barricade took his time in answering and when he did his voice held a mocking tone to it. "What makes you think my presence here has anything to do with you? I was just passing through, minding my own and was a bit surprised to come across you…and the Autobot. That was foolish Firefly… you should have let Firewall finish you off instead. At least then you could have died with some dignity. Or saved your brother some grief."

The red mechanoids remaining hand balled into a fist and he took a few steps toward the cruiser. "You leave Solarflare out of this scrap heap!"

Barricade was reveling in his sick little game, knowing full well that he was easily getting on the Signal Fire bots nerves. "What seems to be the problem? Did I strike a nerve Firefly?"

Jazz rolled forward a couple feet "Slag off and crawl back to whatever pit you came out of before you end up like your pal Frenzy."

Now it was Barricades turn to get angry. "Watch yourself Autobot or you might end up in pieces."

"I'd like to see you try pit-spawn." The silver bot said coolly.

Barricade snarled and both he and Jazz transformed, launching at one another. However Firefly had moved at the same time and before Jazz could land a blow the Signal Fire commander had tackled the Decepticon to the ground. Firefly used his good arm to land a series of hard blows across the police cruisers head before the struggling Decepticon kicked the wounded mech off of himself.

"You will wish you had never crossed me, you over confident youngling!" The Decepticon brought his fist down but Firefly rolled out of the way and came up behind him, grabbing his neck.

Twobit threw himself into the fight, attacking Barricades feet and aiming to severely damage the circuitry in his legs.

"Get off of me you little cretin!" He kicked the small mech and sent him flying into the bottom floor of a nearby building.

"Twobit!" Firefly whipped around, worried about the small mechs well being and Barricade used the red bots temporary distraction to his advantage, catching Firefly in the chest with a powerful blow, he sent the mech flying backwards, where he hit heavily, cratoring the ground as he landed. The Signal Fire commander groaned and almost immediately heard a voice beside him.

"Firefly!" Green optics turned to see Lydia coming toward him.

Barricade had also spotted the girl and immediately began to advance on her. "Fleshling fool!"

Firefly attempted to regain his feet and intercept the Decepticon but as soon as he stood his wounded foot gave out and he fell to his knees.

"Lydia, no!"

Firefly scrambled to his feet and launched himself towards the decepticon before his foot could give out again, but Barricade dealt him another hard hit, casting the red mech off as if he where nothing more than one of the normal cars lining the street. Firefly landed heavily, taking out the corner of a building. Rubble rained down on him and Barricade again turned his attention to Lydia, advancing on her with a malicious glint in his optics. Twobit initiated another assault on the Decepticon but was brushed off. Jazz threw himself into the brawl.

"Leave the human out of this slaggered." The silver mech growled taking the liberty of giving Barricade the royal smack down, Sam and Mikaela quickly scrambled out of Crossfire's cab and took shelter just inside an alleyway as the truck transformed and positioned himself between Lydia and Barricade. Jazz landed yet another blow on the faux police cruiser, knocking him to the ground, the smaller mech managed to pin him.

"You're in trouble now, Decepticon punk." The Autobot lieutenant's cryo-emitter came online with a whine but before he could shoot there was the sound of police sirens wailing nearby and Jazz looked up.

Barricade took the opening and threw the silver bot off. "This is far from over for you." He growled before transforming and making to leave the scene. Firefly leapt up and gave chase to the Decepticon. Half dragging his wounded foot the awkward gait only allowed the red mech to land a blow inches from Barricade's bumper before he found himself surrounded on all sides by real police cars. All he could do was watch the Decepticon disappear.

Lydia immediately started running towards the police as they stepped out of their vehicles and drew weapons on the mech. The hand held guns where nowhere near powerful enough to hurt Firefly, even in his weakened state but he was angry and Lydia was afraid he would do something rash in an attempt to get back on Barricade's trail.

Twobit came up beside Lydia, loping on all fours the small mech had seen no reason to transform as the other two had, the police where too pre occupied with Firefly to have noticed them. That is until Twobit launched himself over the human's heads and landed beside his leader with a snarl.

"Where are these things coming from?" A young, and rather nervous looking officer yelped.

"Steady there Charlie, an older officer growled keeping a wary eye on the two robots. "I have no idea where these things came from but they've probably been causing all of this destruction." He paused for a moment and then gave a decisive nod. "Open fire men!"

"No, wait, stop!" Lydia cried as she slid between the cars and came to stand in front of the two bots. The old officer held up his hand to stop the other men from firing. Lydia guessed that he was the Chief. He stepped forward eyeing the robots wearily before fixing Lydia with a piercing glare. "What do you think you're doing girl?"

"Their not going to hurt you or anyone else I promise."

Firefly lowered his hand and Lydia climbed on. The officers watched as he lifted the girl up and placed her on his shoulder. She knelt down and secured a hand in the small space between his shoulder armor and neck so she wouldn't fall from the virtually frictionless surface.

"See, he isn't going to hurt anyone."

The officer glared up at the girl, "Correction, 'he' if this thing is male in the first place, isn't going to hurt you. For all I know you could have somehow created these monsters and sent them here. Plus, what good is the word of a teenager?"

"She's telling the truth." Mikaela had spoken as she too slipped by the cars and came to stand with the bots, closely followed by Sam. Jazz and Crossfire both hung back, maintaining their disguises for the time being. "Besides, officer…" She paused looking at the officer's name tag "…Falkly, how could a teenager make something that complicated anyway?"

The officer turned his piercing stare on Mikaela. "You may have a valid point but as far as I'm concerned the simple fact you seem to be associated with these things puts you at guilt for damage done."

"That's ridiculous and you are perfectly aware of that." Officer Falkly practically jumped out of his skin as Firefly spoke up for himself. The Signal Fire commander's voice was booming and carried an authority that the man standing before him couldn't even dream of mastering, even if he lived past one hundred years of age. The man looked up at the bot with slight fear in his eyes as the other officers ducked a little lower behind their cars. "These children had absolutely nothing to do with the destruction of any part of this city and the simple fact that you would accuse them because they are near the scene of the crime leads me to think you simply want to start trouble." He lowered himself down so that his face was less than an inch away from the humans and his optics narrowed. "Is that what you want meat bag?"

Falkly looked down and backed up a couple of steps. The confidence he'd had while dealing indirectly with the robots and more with the children had evaporated as soon as he was confronted by the sentient.

"I don't want any trouble…" he rambled looking up at Firefly. Some of his confidence returned, "and I'm not a meat bag you oversized tin can."

Firefly slammed his fist down right beside the chief and the human threw himself to the side in belief that the mech had actually intended to crush him.

"All right, enough of this horseplay bullshit." The chief snarled drawing his weapon and leveling it at Lydia. "Nobody move or I'll put a bullet through this girls head and claimed it was in self defense."

"Don't you even think about it fleshling!" Firefly's anger was near breaking point and he had half a mind just to crush the humans and be done, but the Signal Fire leader knew that if he did that he would be no better than the Decepticons which he so deeply hated.

Suddenly, Jazz transformed and stepped forward. "All right lil bitches you want to play? Let's play. First thing is first. You need to share those toys you call weapons. Gimmie those!" The Autobot lieutenant pulled the weapons from the surprised officer's hands and caught them in his own.

"Okay that's more than enough of you creatures popping up everywhere. Are there any more of you?" Firefly stepped in front of the children, uncomfortable with leaving them exposed even though the officer was now unarmed.

"Our exact numbers are not for you to know at this time. Now, let's try this again. We aren't going to hurt any of you now, let us through so we can go on about our business."

Falkly drew himself up, "Give me a moment to talk to my men in private." With that he turned on his heel and went to his men.

They mumbled amongst themselves. One of them got on the radio and began barking orders. Firefly shook his head and shifted his weight uncomfortably off of his leg. The longer they wasted time the weaker he got.

Jazz came to stand by the mech as the humans continued to mutter to one another. "You doin all right there Fly bot?"

The Signal Fire leader quirked a brow and looked over at Jazz. "I haven't heard that nickname in a long time."

Jazz smirked "Your brother used to call you that all the time when you where younger."

Firefly smirked, a bit of sadness momentarily clouding his optics as he looked down at the cracked pavement. He looked back up and Jazz's facial expression turned to questioning.

"Where is your brother by the way?"

Firefly looked up and attempted to engage his vocalizers but no words came. The red mech was saved the trouble of trying again, however, because at that moment Falkly came up to them. Firefly glared down at the little human as he stopped a few feet away from them.

"Well." Firefly stated simply.

The officer took a moment to dust some small particle off of his shoulder, then removed his hat, smoothed his thinning gray hair and replaced it. He crossed his arms and took up what other people at the precinct called his "power pose" he puffed out his chest, crossed his arms firmly across it, and spread his feet apart a bit wider than usual. The man glared up at the mechanoids before him, any fear he might have felt shoved far away.

"We've called in the military. Giant robot or not you will be coming with us."

Lydia came forward and placed a gentle hand on Firefly's uninjured foot. "Now what do we do?"

"Lydia go back with Crossfire." The girl obeyed looking back over her shoulder a couple of times. She couldn't help but worry about Firefly in his current state and the fact that she couldn't do anything did not help at all.

The girl climbed into the still disguised truck's cab and sat down uneasily in the driver seat.

"What the hell are you up to?" The chief snarled. "I thought I told you all to stay put."

Firefly gave a subsonic growl. Jazz looked over at the red mech, "Don't be doin anything stupid now Fly." He spoke calmly in cybertronian. "You might be part of a friendly faction but that doesn't mean I won't kick your battle beat carcass all the way back to Cybertron if try to hurt the humans. Optimus might not be here, but that doesn't mean the big guys orders don't still stand."

"I'm not going to hurt anyone Jazz. No matter how much they deserve it, I believe in the words Optimus lives by despite the fact I'm not under his command."

The Signal Fire leader quickly relayed his plan to the Autobot and order Twobit out on patrol. The little mech leapt over the police line causing cops to scatter yet again and climbed up the side of the nearest building, disappearing over the rooftops.

"Hey! You tell him to get back here!"

Firefly huffed with amusement and muttered something to Jazz in cybertronian that caused him to snigger.

"What are you prattling on about?"

Firefly glared down at the man and repeated what he said, again in Cybertronian.

"What the hell is wrong with you? I don't speak whatever that dribble of yours is!"

The chieftain suddenly found himself plucked from the ground, as Firefly picked him up by the scruff of his shirt. The other men shouted protest and began to throw loose pieces of pavement and other projectiles trying to get the bot to release their comrade. Some bold men even surged forward and began to use their knight sticks to beat at the mechs unwounded foot. The Signal Fire leader ignored this and brought the officer right up to his face. The man had obviously left his courage on the ground, as he now shook and began to struggle in terror after making eye contact with the mech.

"Please, for the love of God, don't eat me!"

Firefly engaged his vocalizers and was about to tell the panicked creature he didn't eat humans but then decided against it as an idea came to him.

His green optics narrowed and he gave a savage growl, "Gimmie one good reason why I shouldn't ingest you human!"

Falkly yelped and quickly looked passed Firefly to Jazz,who was leaning on the side of a building and watching the unfolding events with an air of partial interest. "You there in the silver! You won't let your friend here eat me will you?"

The Autobot took his sweet time in answering, brushing at a shoulder checking some small button on his cryo-emitter, and finally lacing his fingers behind his head and looking lazy over at the pale man. "Why would I put my aft in the line of fire to save you lil bitch? You crawled your way into this shit and I wanna see you get out."

Falkly swallowed hard before turning back to Firefly. He removed his hat and began to knead it in nervous hands.

"Please Mr. Gigantic Robot, I have a family…can't we have a little heartfelt sympathy here?"

"We could…" Firefly growled and the man relaxed a bit. "Only one problem officer." The human tensed up again. "I don't HAVE a heart!"

The red mech opened his mouth and brought the man right over it as Jazz straightened up a bit "Oh, snap I thought he was playin!"

The man screamed in terror. "No please don't! I'll do ANYTHING!"

The Signal Fire leader pulled the man back. "Anything?" The officer quickly nodded. "All right then just…AGH!"

Firefly pitched forward suddenly. One of the officers on the ground had gotten wise and launched a series of heavy blows on the mechs severely wounded foot. Seeing the newly found weakness other officers surged forward and began a total assault, some even being so bold as to grab at the circuitry protruding from it. Firefly fell to his knees and no sooner was he down then men started climbing up on his legs and doing what they could to pin the mech.

Lydia watched in horror from Crossfire's driver seat, "No!"

She made a grab for the door, but the locks clicked before she could get it open. She pushed hard on the door and tried the handle in vain. "Crossfire lemmie out, Firefly's in big trouble!"

The mechs reply came through the radio. "No Lydia, not this time, Firefly told me to keep you safe for the time being and safe is exactly where I will keep you."

Lydia glowered at the steering wheel.

Sam spoke up from the back, "This is way too much like what happened to Bumblebee…Firefly and Jazz aren't fighting back!"

Mikaela sat there for a minute in thought then nudged Lydia and made a head movement to the back window. It was a latch window, something that Crossfire couldn't lock.

"Sam move over will you?" Mikaela hissed as Lydia began to climb into the back seat but something wrapped securely around her foot.

"Nice try kid, you think I didn't consider the sneak out the back window trick? I said stay put and you're going to stay put."

The sentient car had wrapped the seat belt securely around the bottom part of Lydia's leg. The girl pulled as hard as she could but the restraint held firm. Mikaela leaned over to try to help only to get trapped by the passenger side belt and Sam met the same fate with one of the back seatbelts.

"Crossfire I'm warning you. Lemmie go help Firefly or you're going to regret it!" The girl growled as she again pulled on the seatbelt in hopes it would give.

Crossfire came back sounding amused. "Please Lydi, you can't do anything to me and you know that."

Lydia slumped down onto the floor between the front and back seat, apparently in defeat. She began to pick at her shoe lace with a scowl on her face.

"Oh real mature Lydia…pouting? Come on."

She straightened up a bit and the expression on her face changed. "I'm not pouting Crossfire. I just think that holding someone against their will while a friend is in trouble is more along the lines of something a Decepticon would do."

Crossfire started simultaneously releasing all three teens. "What? Lydia I can't believe that…hey! "

No sooner had she been released Lydia had thrown open the window and Mikaela had launched herself over the front seat and scrambled out. Sam was right behind her and Lydia came as soon as he was out. The middle seatbelt wiped out and wrapped around Lydia's shoe but the piece of clothing came off.

"Lydia get back here!" Crossfire called as the three teens began to slip away.

"Sorry Crossfire, I gotta help Firefly!"

"Lydia! Oh man I'm gona lose my spark for this!" The three teens all ran back towards the police and the two bots caught in their midst, Crossfire following closely behind. Jazz was trying to help Firefly who was now completely down on the ground. The Autobot was having a very difficult time with the simple task though because of how many officers there where. He simply couldn't move over to the red mech without stepping on someone.

"Slag it! Can't you lil creatures see the bots already hurtin enough without your help! Get off 'im!"

Jazz and Firefly may have been against really attacking the officers for fear of severely wounding or killing them but Lydia had no problem with getting right down to knocking heads.

"Get the hell off of him!" The girl shoved and pushed her way into the crowd and towards Firefly. "He wasn't really going to hurt anyone."

She turned on the men who were pulling at the circuitry in the mechs open arm socket. Some of them were backing away as the bots automatic defense systems kicked in to the outside threat but most were just tearing at whatever they could get their hands on. The girl heard Mikaela cry out a warning and half a second later someone had grabbed her from behind.

"So you decided to come back huh? Well why don't you sit tight and watch as we make a mess out of your friend here hmm?"

Lydia turned her head to find Falkly's gray eyes staring back at her. Sam and Mikaela had both been grabbed by other officers as well. The girl struggled and tried to kick the man but he simply lifted her off her feet.

"Hey! You leave the kids out of this or I'm gonna start squishing ya'll like grapes!" Jazz growled.

The officer seemed to figure the threat was empty though because he turned to the silver bot, still holding Lydia.

"Quite down! Your turn will come soon enough."

Jazz clenched a fist. "You just crossed so many lines."

The chief then heard an engine behind him as Crossfire came up. "Block the truck!" He ordered a small group of men. "It's probably another damn robot."

A few of the men complied while the rest concentrated on Firefly. One young deputy pulled out his tazer and grabbed one of the wires from the mechs empty arm socket. He looked over at the man next to him. "What do you think will happen if I give the wire a little zap?"

The man beside him smirked. "Find out."

The first deputy cranked the tazer up to half power and gave the wire a direct zap. Firefly gave an involuntary twitch which seemed to amuse the two.

"Give it full power." The officer did so and Firefly gave a bigger spasm coupled with a moan.

"Oh my God. Leave him alone!" Lydia protested. "You're hurting him!"

The first man looked over at Lydia. "Whatever. It's a frickin robot it can't feel any pain…Hey I wonder what happens when you get it with more than one." The second man shrugged and called a few more officers over.

"All right boys full power and all at once. Ready?"

They all obeyed and Firefly again scrambled uncontrollably before trying to get away from the humans. Another officer spoke up "hey let's give it one BIG shock for what he did to the chief!" There was a general ramble of agreement and a small group of men gathered at his foot while the initial group stayed at his arm.

Jazz tried to push his way forward but more of the squad got on his case all pulling tazers and giving him shocks. "Ow! Hey knock it off!"

The red mech was now laying face down. "No..please…Primus what did I do to you to deserve this?"

Lydia was practically in tears. "Please for the love of God LEAVE HIM ALONE!"

The officers didn't listen and Falkly smiled wickedly. "Get it good boys!"

The deputy who had initially started the shocking nodded "all right everyone, Full power, all together."

They all set off their tazers and Firefly seizured as violently as ever and despite his best efforts a short pained wail escaped his vocals. In his severely weakened state the shocks from the tazers were more painful than they would normally be and then couple that with the fact that they were literally wiring the charges into his weak system it was literally torture.

"That is more than enough out of you boys!" The voice came from the other side of the street, the men stopped and all looked up to see a man standing on the roof of a huge black truck, a gun griped firmly in his hands.

"Who the hell are you?" Falkly barked as he handed Lydia off to another officer and strode over to meet the other man as he climbed down from his truck.

"My name is William Lennox. CAPTAIN William Lennox."

The chief looked at Lennox's army dress and nodded approvingly. "You're here about the robot problem then. Where is the rest of your unit?"

Lennox glared at the man before him. "I called them off. My friend and I are responding to a distress signal here."

The officer shook his head. "Nobody here sent out a distress signal." He looked over Will's shoulder trying to see if this friend of his was possibly still in the cab of the truck, but there wasn't anyone else. "Where exactly is this friend of yours?"

Will got a slightly devious smirk on his face and he stepped aside so that nothing stood between the officer and the black truck. The man blinked, momentarily confused as he stared at the truck but then jumped back as, with a metallic shifting sound the truck stood up and seemed to fold and remold itself to reveal a rather pissed looking black armored robot.

"ANOTHER one? This is getting unbelievable!"

Lennox came to stand by Ironhide's foot. "I don't care if you believe it or not. You guys are supposed to serve and protect and from what I heard from that robot it sounds like you've been causing nothing but grief."

The officer took a moment to answer, still keeping a nervous eye on Ironhide who stood glaring down at the man. "Which of the robots told you that?" He shot a poisoned glare over his shoulder at Firefly and despite his severely weakened state the red mech gave him a scorching look right back. The man quickly turned back to Will. "The bot you have on the ground there had nothing to do with it. The scout found me."

He pointed up to the roof top and the chief turned to see Twobit standing there, looking worriedly down on his leader. "Let the kids go and get your men away from the robots all right?"

The chief scoffed, "Why would I call my men off? You're in league with these things! I should arrest you."

Lydia caught the cop holding her hard with her knee and he let her go. "You know what I should do? I should have your badge for what you've done here! What precinct are you from? Who's in command above you?"

The cop she'd kneed grabbed her again before she could get to close to Falkly and cuffed her this time.

Will sighed, "Fine I guess we have to do this the hard way then. Ironhide?"

The weapons specialist nodded stepping forward he addressed the officer gruffly, "All right let the younglings go and get away from the other bots or you'll be nothing more than an unidentifiable smear on the pavement."

The chief was slightly put out by how big Ironhide was but scoffed none the less, "None of these other robots have done so much as tried to step on me. Why should I believe you would?" Ironhide scowled down at the human and swung his cannons forward, each giving a high pitched whine as they came online.

The officer paled, "Okay, okay just take it easy!" He quickly ordered his men to back off and give the bots room as well as let the teenagers go.

Ironhide kept his cannons trained on the shaky Falkly as Lydia went to Firefly's side with Crossfire close behind her. The red mech pushed himself into a sitting position with a small groan and attempted to gain his feet only to fall back down on his knees.

He shook his head, "The leg won't even support me anymore…" He muttered in Cybertronian. "Primus I'm a slaggin mess."

Crossfire smirked as he grabbed his leaders remaining arm and pulled him up, draping the arm over his shoulders to keep the other mech from falling again. "Hey, I've seen you a lot worse big bot. We'll get you to the medic Jazz mentioned earlier and you'll be just fine."

Firefly quirked an eye ridge. "Crossfire you really don't need to reassure me about my status." He smirked. "I'm not a youngling."

Crossfire shook his head lightly as the two began to slowly move forward "I dunno Fly sometimes I wonder. Like that whole 'im gona eat you if you don't do what I want you to' routine?"

Firefly smirked, "What? You know I wouldn't have done it. Plus that's junk food and I don't know where he's been."

Crossfire gave a small chuckle as the two moved over towards Ironhide, Jazz following close behind. Falkly stepped back as the bots came forward and looked up at Firefly, a little nervous considering that Ironhide's cannon's were both online.

"No hard feelings right big guy?"

Jazz stopped, crossing his arms and shaking his head as Firefly looked down at the human, shaking his own head, "Slag off, fleshling. You pined me down, threatened my friends and those I have sworn to protect, and then allow your men to electrocute me like it was all a big joke. We weren't okay to begin with and I'll be the son of a scrap heap before I say we are."

The two mechs passed behind Ironhide and began to make their way slowly down the street towards the outskirts of town and the waiting medic.

Lennox stepped up, "Give me your badge." The officer complied under the hard eye of Ironhide. The Captain took down the number and then handed it back to him. "I suggest you all clear off now and if you encounter any other robots you are not to engage for any reason. Got it?"

Falkly nodded and signaled to his men, who all went back to their vehicles and drove away. Twobit came down from the roof no sooner did the last car disappear and wandered down an alleyway, returning a few moments later carrying Firefly's severed arm which had been dropped when Crossfire had transformed. He stopped in front of Ironhide, setting the arm down at his own feet he straightened up and spoke on a subsonic frequency to the larger mech. Ironhide gave a slight nod which Twobit returned and then, picking the arm back up, passed the black mech and headed back towards the others.

Lennox looked up at Ironhide, "What did the squirt say?"

The weapons specialist looked down at the human, "He was thanking me for taking time to lend a helping hand with the little problem they were having here. I'm not going to give you the entire audio rattle he gave me." The big mech paused. "I think he might have suffered some sort of excessive head trauma…he kept rambling about an evil toaster."

Lennox quirked an eyebrow and Ironhide just shrugged. "Takes all kinds, captain."

Will nodded, knowing that the mech spoke truth. It was the same general thing when it came to humans. Ironhide turned around and went to join the others, Will in tow. Firefly was still stumping along steadily with Crossfire beside him, the Signal Fire leader's expression was blank and he kept his optics trained ahead of him. Twobit came up on his other side, too short to offer any real help the little bot simply walked along side his leader, carrying his severed arm.

The group of humans and transformers made their way slowly down block after block to the suburbs on the outskirts of the city. By the time they all reached the beginnings of the suburban outskirts the sun was sinking below the horizon and street lamps were beginning to click on. The group stopped and Jazz stepped in front of them.

"Ya'll hang back. I'll go track down Ratch and bring 'im here."

With that he transformed and quickly disappeared, taking Sam and Mikaela with him. No sooner had the Autobot disappeared than Firefly pulled his arm off of Crossfire's shoulders and un ceremoniously slumped to the grass beside a building and leaned up against the structure. Ironhide had taken the job of sentinel and stood a few blocks away, Lennox at his feet. Lydia flopped down beside Firefly and lay down on the grass folding her hands behind her head and releasing a very heavy sigh.

Firefly sat up a bit, glancing down at her and then turned to Crossfire and Twobit, "Jazz should be back soon but, in the mean time, I want you two to transform and scout at least four blocks in either direction. Make absolutely sure those policemen kept their word and then report back to me, is that understood."

Crossfire and Twobit both answered in the affirmative and transformed, each going in a separate direction. Twobit left Firefly's severed arm lying on the ground at his leader's feet. The big mech waited until both of his men had disappeared and then looked down at Lydia.

"Doin all right kid?"

The girl looked up at him and blinked owlishly. "I'm doing descent enough I guess…I mean considering the fact that one of the best friends I ever had almost got killed today …" Lydia looked down at the ground, picking up a stick and poking at the grass with it.

Firefly leaned forward and picked up his severed arm using it to gently poke Lydia. The girl looked up and the bot smirked, green optics dancing with a mischievous glint. "Tis just a flesh wound."

The teenager managed a smile, "You've been downloading Monty Python from the internet again haven't you?"

The bots smirk widened into a robotic grin. "I could be downloading a lot less wholesome things you know."

Lydia cringed slightly. "Firefly, that's disgusting and you know it!"

Firefly's optics widened and he got a bit of a scared look on his face, "Oh, trust me I KNOW just how bad it can get it haunts my dreams when I go into stasis at night. Humans are sick, sad, scary little creatures." He paused a moment and then cast a sideway's glance at Lydia as a smile again spread across his features. Lydia looked up at him and for a moment they just stared at each other before Lydia burst out laughing.

"Firefly, you are so WEIRD!"

The red mech threw up his arm still holding his severed left in it he began waving it around. "What? I kid you not! I mean I don't go looking for the stuff…PRIMUS no! But you humans seem to LOVE it! Plus how can I be the WEIRD one!? Have you ever actually LISTENED to Twobit? He goes into rants about evil toasters for Primus sake!"

Lydia was now laughing so hard that she had fallen over and was now rolling around on the ground.

"Still a youngling at Spark I see Firefly." The Signal Fire leader's servos gave a jolt at the sudden voice and the sudden movement caused him to pitch sideways, and very gracelessly end up on the ground.

This only caused Lydia to start laughing harder. Firefly scrambled back into a sitting position, which was exceedingly difficult with only one arm. He turned to find Ratchet standing a couple feet away from him, Ironhide and Jazz behind him. Sam and Mikaela were also sniggering despite their best efforts, Ironhide was just shaking his head lightly and Jazz sported an amused smirk.

But it was the medic that Firefly addressed, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand, "Hey, Ratchet long time no see."

The medical officer gave a small grunt, "I see your humor is still fully intact despite you're little ordeal…"

Firefly nodded and shot a death glare down at Lydia, "Will you cool it?" he hissed.

The girl sat up and buried her face in her hands, still shaking with barely controlled laughter. Crossfire and Twobit both returned at that moment and transformed as they came upon the group. Crossfire helped Firefly back to his feet, again lending the slightly larger mech his support as Twobit picked up his arm.

The cobalt blue armored mech looked down at Lydia and then back at Firefly, "What did you do?"

Firefly looked down at Lydia with a smirk. "Very effectively lightened the mood apparently."

Crossfire smirked as the three Signal Fire bots walked over to join the Autobots.

Ratchet narrowed his optics as he gave Firefly a hasty scan, "I'm curious to hear the story behind this particular incident, Firefly but first we need to get out of here. There is a virtually abandon piece of woodland a few miles from here. It should be secluded enough so that I can get you fixed up and you can stay there and recover if need be."

Firefly looked a bit put out, "A few miles Ratchet?"

The medic nodded. "Yes that's what I said. It's the only secluded area without going all the way back to base which is exceedingly farther."

Firefly shook his head, "This is going to take hours…"

Ironhide looked at the wounded mech then over at Ratchet, "You know we could always just tie him up and drag him…it wouldn't take as long."

Ratchet glared at the black armored mech.

"What, we COULD!"

Firefly gave a dismissive snort, "I'd like to see you try and get me down long enough to tie old timer."

Ironhide swung his cannons forward and brought them online. "Is that a challenge, scrap heap?"

Firefly growled and his remaining hand balled into a fist. "You want a piece of me? Go ahead and take it."

Ironhide stepped forward with a growl and both Crossfire and Twobit tensed for a fight.

"Stand down hide." The black mech stopped and turned.

Jazz stood leaning calmly against a building. "That's a direct order."

The weapons specialist grumbled but obeyed the lieutenant none the less.

Ratchet just shook his head. "If you two can refrain from ripping one another apart I was going to suggest that someone carry you, Firefly."

The medic was greeted by a resounding no form both Ironhide and Firefly.

"Listen doc, I might be pretty badly beat up but I still have my pride."

Ironhide gave a dismissive snort, "There is no way in the pit I'm shouldering that roughlings weight!"

He turned and began to walk away but hadn't gotten more than a few paces before something hard hit him in the back of the head. Ironhide turned with a growl, his cannons coming back online. He spotted Twobit standing on top of a three story building a few yards away. The small mech was tossing a large rock form hand to hand and he again spoke to Ironhide using subsonic speech. This time however, there was no thankfulness in his tone.

The weapons specialist growled and lifted his cannon to aim at the Signal Fire mech but at that moment Lennox came up by his feet, "Ironhide, I have no idea what he just said to you but Jazz is right. Relax will you?" Ironhide stared down at the human for a moment and then took his cannons offline and paced away a few more feet. Despite the fact he would never vocalize it, Ironhide respected Lennox more than any of the other little humans he had met on this planet.

Firefly relaxed a bit as Ironhide moved off and Twobit came back down from the roof top. The Signal Fire leader then straightened himself up as best he could, Crossfire still at his side, holding him steady. "All right then, no reason in wasting time here. Go ahead and lead the way Ratchet." The medic gave a nod and he, Jazz, Ironhide, and Twobit all transformed. Sam and Mikaela climbed into Jazz's cab as Will took a seat on the driver's side of Ironhide. Lydia climbed onto Twobit who had taken the form of a 2007 Yamaha Raptor ATV. Ratchet took the lead at the head of the group and they all began to move their way steadily out of the suburbs and into the gathering dark beyond.


	5. Chapter Five: Nightmares and Repairs

**Authors note:** Hey look an update! And it hasn't been MONTHS!!! Hurray for motivation! Enjoy!

**Disclaimer:** Transformers is © to Hasbro, the 2007 movie is © to Dreamworks

Twobit, Firefly, Crossfire, Lydia, Firewall, and Solarflare are all © to me. Any actual likness to other characters in existants either in the show or in other fics is strictly coincidence.

**Chapter Five: Repairs and Nightmares**

Darkness had fully settled and the stars where shining brightly over head by the time the group of humans and transformers reached the large patch of woodland Ratchet had affor mentioned. No sooner had they come to a halt than Crossfire carefully pulled Firefly's arm from his shoulders and helped the red mech ease to the ground. The Signal Fire leader's optics were dim as he looked up at his first lieutenant and gave him a thankful nod. Lydia climbed off of Twobit and the small bot immediately transformed into his bipedal mode, skirting around the edge of the clearing, taking in every tree and twig as well as venturing into the shadows of the tall pines that surrounded them.

All though not suitable enough for any kind of permanent base, it was ideal for temporary shelter and large enough for all the bots to move around comfortably. The trees were old, some standing over 45 feet tall, so even in robot mode the mechs were well hidden and safe from being spotted by anyone. Jazz came over carrying Firefly's severed arm and set it down beside him. The silver mech straightened up and looked at the red bot leaning heavily against one of the thick pine trees.

"Doin all right?"

Firefly lifted his optics to look at Jazz and gave a slow nod but didn't actually vocalize anything. Ratchet came over at that moment and Jazz moved away so the medic could have some room. The yellow-green armored mech began pulling an array of tools from subspace and placing them close at hand. Firefly watched all of this through partially shuttered optics as his head sank down to his chest plate.

"Stay with me now, Firefly." The medic held something up and looked at it for a moment using his headlights.

Firefly didn't catch what it was until he felt a prick followed immediately by a wave of new energy. He sat up and his optics brightened.

Ratchet smirked, "It's amazing what a small shot of high-grade straight to the system can do isn't it?"

Firefly nodded. Ratchet turned, picking up Firefly's severed arm, he removed the armor, exposing the intricate musculature beneath. The three teenagers looked on in amazement. It wasn't exactly everyday a person saw the inner workings of an alien robot. Ratchet made repairs using an inbuilt welder and was done.

"Another plus about that boost is that it will help your automatic repair systems. Which will make my work here easier."

The medic then removed the armor from Firefly's shoulder, exposing more of the musculature beneath. He looked at the tangle of wires, hoses and, cables, shaking his head. "It amazes me how big a mess of things humans can make in large numbers."

Ratchet began making attempts to untangle the mess of wires but found this a bit difficult due to the fact that the lines where already attempting to repair themselves. Add that to the fact that Firefly's automatic defense was at full power due to the multiple attacks and it was a nasty situation indeed. It wasn't until Ratchet received a particularly nasty shock that he stepped away.

"All right then, it looks like we'll need to temporarily offline your internal automatic defense system." Ironhide came forward, having stayed on the outskirts of the clearing for some time.

"Why don't we just offline him completely? It would make all our lives better in the long run."

Firefly made to gain his feet as Twobit and Crossfire came to him. He barely managed to stand, leaning heavily against a tree. "What is wrong with you, Ironhide? You're treating me as if I was in league with the Decepticons."

Ironhide's optics narrowed, "Where's Solarflare you walking, talking piece of slag."

Firefly looked down at the ground, staring at the bed of pine needles beneath his currently miss matched feet for a few moments.

"Well?" Ironhide growled.

Firefly attempted to engage his vocals multiple times but no words would come. The Signal Fire leader slumped back to the ground, leaning his forehead heavily onto his hand he did not look back up. Lydia came to his side, placing her hand on his leg and looking up at him. She then looked over at Ironhide, giving him a poisoned look that, had he been human, would have probably killed him.

"You're a real piece of work, Ironhide."

The big black mech was about to confront the girl when Will spoke up. "Ironhide, it's getting late and Sarah's going to start to worry. We should probably get going."

Ironhide stared down at Will for a long moment, then transformed, swinging open his driver's side door.

Will looked at the others, "I'll see you all tomorrow. Something tells me we'll be meeting with the defense secretary."

Jazz exhaled through his vents in a sigh and Ratchet nodded slowly. Ironhide and Will disappeared through the trees and the sound of the trucks engine slowly faded into the darkness. Firefly lifted his head expelling air heavily from his vents.

Sam looked up at Jazz, "We should probably go too. Bumblebee should be back at the base by now and I'm sure what happened in the city today made the news in some form or another so my parents are probably freaking out."

Jazz nodded, "I need to report to Optimus."

The silver mech transformed and swung his doors open. Sam and Mikaela climbed in and the doors shut.

"Take it easy guys."

He started his engine and disappeared, leaving Ratchet and the Signal Fire Bots alone.

Will sat quietly behind the freely moving steering wheel as Ironhide started back towards his home. The captain was curious as to why Ironhide had started reacting so negatively towards Firefly after they had left the city but he wasn't sure how to approach the subject. The man was fully aware of the fact the disguised mech was till broody as he kept rumbling from time to time. He finally decided to take the direct approach.

"Ironhide?" Will questioned, looking down at the steering wheel.

The Autobot's answer came through the radio.

"What?" He said gruffly.

Will paused again, trying to think of what he should say, but again, he found the direct approach to be the best option. "What exactly is you're problem with Firefly?"

Ironhide took a moment to respond, "He's a rogue, Will his entire crew consists of nomads, outcasts, and, well, I guess as you humans would put it, 'Black Sheep'"

Lennox quirked an eyebrow, "What's so horrible about being a bit different?"

Ironhide paused, "There's nothing wrong with being 'different', it's the fact that their rogues. They have no allegiance and that makes it difficult to decide if their a threat or not."

Will nodded, seeing the black mechs point. "But Firefly doesn't seem like the kind of bot that wants to destroy us. I mean Jazz said that he refused to hurt any of those policemen. Even after they started attacking him."

Ironhide's engine revved a bit higher than usual for a moment. "For all we know the whole fight and the little run in with the police could have been planned. Rogues will run with whoever offers them the best reward. We could be playing right into Starscream's power hungry hands."

Will sighed heavily, Ironhide was beyond reasoning now. "What about the girl, Ironhide? Decepticons don't go cavorting around with humans. They hate us, you know that."

Ironhide didn't bother answering Will this time. He rumbled to a stop outside the Lennox house and opened the door.

"I'll see you shortly after sun up tomorrow." The mech growled.

Lennox climbed out of the cab, "Ironhide…" The black truck slammed the door and disappeared down the road, leaving Will to stare after him.

Roughly an hour and a half had passed since Ironhide and Jazz had left the clearing and Firefly was up and moving about of his own accord. Ratchet had only just finished repairing the Signal Fire leader and had managed to pound the worst of the dents out of his armor. The red bot was stiff to say the least and he walked with a slight limp but overall he was happy just to be in one piece again. Ratchet subspaced his equipment and watched the young mech for a few moments.

"You'll loosen up again within a few days. For now why don't you try transforming?"

Firefly paused for a moment, as if not quite sure he wanted to transform but then he crouched down, armor plates shifting and re formatting themselves as gears turned. Everything seemed to be going smoothly until something went out with a pop and a shower of sparks. The partially transformed robot fell flat. Twobit and Crossfire both winced and Lydia gave the Signal Fire leader a worried look.

Ratchet stepped towards Firefly, shaking his head lightly. "I was worried that this might happen. Can you transform back at all?"

There was a slight noise of shifting gears as Firefly attempted to regain his robot mode. However, he only managed to free his arms before there was another snapping noise followed by more sparks.

"All right, Firefly that's more than enough. Just stay still now." The partially transformed robot obeyed as Ratchet took some choice tools from subspace and began to work.

Jazz had taken the liberty of dropping Mikaela off at her house before returning to base by right around 11 o clock. Bumblebee was already waiting for them and after a swift greeting and farewell to Jazz; he and Sam took off towards the boy's house. No sooner were the two on their way then questions from Bumblebee began to poor from the radio.

"What happened out there today? Are you all right? It was Decepticons wasn't it? What were they after? They didn't hurt you did they?"

Sam patted the dash quickly to distract Bumblebee from his rambling. "Calm down Bee, I can only answer one question at a time."

There was silence for a moment, "Sorry Sam, I got worried and the news reports didn't exactly help."

Sam quirked an eyebrow, "This should be good. What was their explanation?"

Bumblebee's radio clicked on and turned to a news station, "_…investigations will continue overnight to try and determine the exact cause of the excessive damage downtown today. It is believed that the most likely cause was a series of earthquakes_." The radio cut off, clicking back into Bumblebee's communication link.

"Something tells me that's just cover up. Am I right?"

Sam nodded, leaning back in the seat with a heavy sigh. "I have a feeling things are gona get rough…"

"Well don't leave me in the dark. What happened?" The camaro inquired eagerly.

"It was some bot named Firefly and a couple of others, called themselves the Signal Fire or something like that…"

Bumblebee paused for a moment. "Firefly?" he muttered to himself. "He's still alive?"

Sam quirked an eyebrow, "What was that?"

The camaro gave himself a mental shake, "Nothing, Sam were they fighting when you came across them?"

Sam nodded, "Oh yeah big time!"

The boy proceeded to relay the days events back to the robot starting with when they first spotted Firefly, through the ordeal with the police, and finishing with the conversation that had transpired between Ironhide and Firefly shortly before they had left.

"Wow sounds like 'hides still sore even after all this time…"

Sam's curiosity perked up, "Those two have met up before?"

Bumblebee came back sounding a bit far off, lost in his own thought process. "Yeah Sam…you have to remember, most of us had some kind of contact with one another before Cybertron fell to ruin."

The two fell silent as questions filled the air. Bumblebee would have to confront Firefly tomorrow. There were too many gaps in this story…Where was Solarflare? What had Firefly done to become such a prime target with the Decepticons and where did Earth fit in to everything?

Firefly lay sprawled out in the center of the clearing, his hands tucked comfortably behind his head and optics turned to the stars. It had taken the combine efforts of Ratchet and his fellow team members to sort himself back out of the half transformed state he'd gotten stuck in and replace the damaged transformation coils that had caused the mess, but in the end Ratchet had done his job.

The medic had left only after Firefly had sworn to stay in the clearing. No sooner had the Autobot left Crossfire and Twobit had taken their leave to patrol. The Signal Fire leader was not worried about being alone in the clearing, the humans were miles away and, despite the fact he was positive Firewall had gone to Starscream when he'd departed, he'd had his men cloak their energy signatures and had done the same for himself. As far as the sentients on the planet were concerned he didn't even exist at the moment.

The red mech looked down at Lydia; the girl was fast asleep in the grass beside his leg. Ratchet had offered to take her to base with him when he had readied to leave but she had flat out refused, insisting that she stay with Firefly. The bot was happy she had made this decision. He hadn't wanted her to go. He lay back down, returning his gaze to the stars.

Time passed unmarked and Firefly was on the edge of stasis when a rustling brought his sensors back to full alert. He sat up, scanning the immediate area but picked up no signal. He stood, looking down at where Lydia lay sleeping only she wasn't there. Firefly was on high alert; he called out the humans name…no answer. He tried contacting Twobit and Crossfire over closed communication, but received no answer.

The bot made his way into the trees, continuing to call Lydia's name. The woods seemed darker, the trees closer together and more in number than they had been earlier that day. Firefly shoved his way forward calling out time and time again as he became desperate. He suddenly broke through the trees to find himself on the edge of a steep cliff.

The scene that spread out before him made him stop dead. A dusty gray landscape pock marked with caverns and deep pits stretched out below his feet. Firefly turned to go back the way he'd come only to fine the same desolate landscape had replaced the woodland. The Signal Fire leader turned back to the cliff only to find it too had gone and the dusty landscape now stretched out endlessly all around him. Not knowing what else to do the mech began to walk.

Firefly pressed on and on for he did not know how long, the scenery never changed and even the stars above seemed to shine with a cold malice as they watched the lone robot wander through the desolation below them. Firefly called out for Lydia every so often and continually tried to contact the other bots of his faction. Yet time and time again he was greeted with silence. Unrest settled and finally he simply stopped looking around himself. What had happened to Lydia? To Crossfire? What about Twobit? How had he come to this place? Why? The questions kept multiplying but no answers came to drive the never ending tide back. Firefly felt his sensories spiraling.

"How do I get out of this place!?" He cried out.

Suddenly the bot picked up a signal from another Cybertronian. He turned, spotting a mech larger than himself approaching. Firefly came forward, recognizing the mechs signature, but not believing the feedback he was getting from his own sensories. The two Cybertronians stopped with about a foot separating them. Firefly stood there, unable to believe his own optics. There, standing before him, silhouetted in the starlight, his blue-green optics holding a contemplative understanding that came with many years of leadership, was Solarflare.

Firefly dropped to his knees before his leader, thankful he was alive and at the same time, repentant for what had happened out among the stars. The young mech felt a strong hand on his shoulder and lifted his head. Solarflare looked down on him with a look of quiet understanding. He offered Firefly a hand up and the younger mech took it. Neither of them spoke for a long moment. Solarflare stepped back, a slight breeze blowing low across the ground.

He spoke calmly, optics never leaving the mech who was once his first lieutenant, "Flames will end tyranny and like a phoenix from the ashes, the fallen will rise."

Firefly did not understand what had just been said, but before he could vocalize the wind picked up and Solarflare began to disappear.

Firefly stumbled forward, reaching out to his leader, "Wait!"

But it was too late, the other mech was gone. The wind died and Firefly was left alone but only seconds went by before he picked up on another energy signature. This one put him on high alert. He whipped around only to immediately catch two talon like feet in the chest. The mech was knocked from his feet, sliding through the dust before coming to a stop some yards from where he had just stood. Firefly groaned, pain coursing through his system as his joints temporarily locked themselves after the hard hit and consecutive fall. They quickly unlocked and his CPU immediately began an automatic damage report. Menial damage detected…outer extremities functional…error received from left armature weapons system…system is non functional all other systems running at full capacity.

Firefly made to gain his feet but a foot pressed down on his chest. He looked up into the blood red optics of an all too familiar Decepticon.

"Firewall…" The Signal Fire leader struggled but Firewall pressed down harder, a low snarl emitting from his vocals.

He brought his weapons system online and pressed a blaster to the pinned mechs head. "Now you die rougeling…" Firefly heard the weapon give a high pitched whine and fire before a blinding white light over took his optics.

Firefly came online with a start, scrambling into a sitting position and looking wildly around himself. He was back in the clearing, Firewall nowhere in sight and the Signal Fire leader found himself completely unharmed. He expelled air heavily through his vents, relieved. It had all been nothing more than a stasis entwined vision. Despite that, Solarflare's words still rang clearly through his processors.

_'Flames will end tyranny and, like a phoenix from the ashes, the fallen will rise.' _

He cast his gaze to the stars, what did Solarflare mean? Again, a heavy sigh escaped his vents as he looked down to where Lydia lay sleeping. His systems all simultaneously rocketed to high alert. Just as in his vision, Lydia was gone. The Signal Fire leader felt himself griped by momentary panic as he looked wildly around the clearing, but the panic gave way to immediate relief as he spotted the girl sitting on a rock a few yards away.

Firefly stood and made his way quietly up to the girl, still limping slightly. Lydia sat balled up on the rock, her legs tucked up to her body, head in her arms resting atop her knees. Her shoulders shook from time to time and her breathing was uneven. Something was far from being right, even the most simplistic of creatures could see that.

Firefly knelt down beside the girl, "Lydia?"

She almost immediately stopped shaking and lifted her head, quickly wiping at her eyes and doing what she could to hide the fact she had been crying. She hated doing it and she hated it more when she got caught. It made her feel weak.

She gave a small smile as she looked up at Firefly, "Hey Fly. I…I didn't hear you come over…I...didn't wake you up did I?"

The mech shook his head, dark green optics shining brightly in the pre dawn darkness, "No…Are you all right? You are not hurt are you?"

Lydia squirmed slightly as she felt herself being scanned. It wasn't that it hurt; it just wasn't a comfortable thing. "I'm fine Firefly…." She unfolded her legs and stood up.

The red mech gave her a calculating look, "You only received trivial wounds yesterday…and I know that humans do not leak from the optics unless something is wrong…or very right."

He put his hand down and Lydia climbed onto it. He lifted the girl up and placed her on his shoulder, turning his head so that he could see her. "Something tells me you're on the negative end of that scale at the moment."

Lydia nodded. Again giving a quick swipe at her eyes. "I had another nightmare…that's all…

Firefly looked down at her for a moment, "It was about your family, wasn't it…"

Again she nodded, "Yeah…" She went really quite and for a moment there was silence between the two of them.

Firefly knew for a fact that the fem was often haunted by events of her past and that she rarely volunteered to converse about the subject so he didn't press her.

The red mech gave a wry smile, "I did not exactly rest well myself…"

Lydia looked up at the mech. "What happened?"

Firefly shook his head, still confused about the dream he'd had, "I'm not quite sure…"

Lydia stared up at Firefly for a moment. "It was about Solarflare…wasn't it?"

The Signal Fire leader did not vocalize only nodded. Lydia paused for a moment, "Try not to worry…We'll find a way to free him…"

Firefly exhaled heavily through his vents, as the words from the dream came to him yet again. He looked momentarily down at his left arm, still receiving error messages from that particular area of his weapons system…it was the only thing that was in the dream that stayed with him in reality. He returned his gaze to the horizon.

"One can only hope…"


	6. Chapter Six: Common Ground

**Disclaimer: **Transformers is (c) to Hasbro and the 2007 movie is (c) to Dreamworks Firewall is (c) to me!

**Chapter Six: Common Ground**

Firewall transformed, landing heavily on the sandy soil as he scanned the area. Thundercracker landed a few feet behind him and took a step forward.

"I do not envy you Firewall. Starscream will not be pleased with your failed attempt at the roguelings life."

Firewall sneered, "Starscream will hear what is needed to please him." He rounded on Thundercracker, "and YOU will keep your comm. Links off and your vocalizers mute on the matter or I will turn you into dust particles. Is that understood?" Thundercracker gave a low snarl but then nodded and the two mechs began trekking over the sand towards the base entrance.

They had left the city only a few hours ago and the sun was beginning to set as they came upon the sandy hill that covered the entrance. The sand in front of them shifted and Scorpinok burst forth, brandishing his tail at them and snapping his pinchers.

Firewall growled, "Stand down Scorpinock. We are reporting to Starscream directly."

The other Decepticon stood there for a few moments and then scuttled out of their way. The two bots moved forward only to be interrupted by another con.

"So the great Firewall returns…Tell me, is the rogue dead?"

Firewall sneered as he turned to face the new arrival. "I report to Starscream and Starscream alone Sideways."

In all honesty the red and black F 22 Raptor would rather have continued tracking the rogue, biding his time until the mech was alone but he knew Thundercracker would have reported him faster than one could say 'klick'. So Firewall had grudgingly returned to base in order to report to the self proclaimed leader of the faction. Sideways was not helping his mood. He shoved the Decepticon aside and entered the base.

Thundercracker and Sideways followed just behind him as he stalked down the corridor. He deftly made his way through the winding passages until he arrived at the door to Starscream's quarters. Shockwave was on guard at the door.

The purple armored Decepticon leveled his weapon at Firewall, "State your business."

Firewall looked at the weapon with disinterest. "I'm here to make my report to Starscream. Directly."

Shockwave glowered for a moment and then allowed the three to pass. Sideways and Thundercracker both stopped a few feet inside the door and Firewall approached Starscream alone. The black and red raptor felt like a prisoner at the moment. Never a moments solitude, some mech always shadowing him or demanding reports. It was not the way he preferred to function.

There was no exchange of pleasantries Firewall simply stopped bending a knee down to the ground and bowing his head, "Lord Starscream…"

The Decepticon leader cut right to the chase as Firewall stood back up. "Firewall, has the rogue leader been neutralized?"

"The rouge is no longer a threat as far as you are concerned Starscream," the red and black mech replied curtly.

The Decepticon leader nodded in approval, "He is dead then. You have done a great thing for the Decepticons today Firewall." Firewall managed a small smirk upon receiving Starscream's approval but that quickly faded as the entrance to the room suddenly opened.

Firewall repressed a snarl as Barricade entered. "He lies Starscream. The rouge still lived when I came across him."

Starscream snarled and came at Firewall, catching him hard across the face with his fist. "You dare lie to me?"

Firewall defended himself, "The rest of the mechs miserable crew showed up just as I was about to deal the final blow Starscream. We were out numbered. I did what seemed to be in best interest for Thundercracker and myself at the moment."

Starscream again struck Firewall, causing him to stumble back. "Lord Starscream…" he growled but another series of hard blows to the head and chest prevented the red and black mech from pleading his case any further. Barricade watched as Starscream vented on the other Decepticon with a slight smirk on his faceplate. It was no secret that he found pleasure in causing problems for Firewall. The red and black raptor did not fight back. He knew if he did so Starscream would only become more enraged and could very well damage him enough to put him out for many days if not kill him.

Firewall fell to the ground and Starscream pinned him there with his foot. "You treat me like a blind fool, Firewall. How do I know that you did not purposefully allow the Signal Fire rouge to live?"

The bot stared up at his leader, his expression blank. "Starscream, he lived only because of dumb luck. You know full well that I swore an oath to destroy him for his betrayal. You gave me a new chance for that and I will not fail you. He will come to fight under your command or he will die Starscream. No one shall stand between you and victory.

The F 22 removed his foot from Firewall's chest, nodding in approval, "I am glad that we find ourselves standing upon common ground once more, Firewall. Go now and seek brief medical attention. I want you back on the hunt by dawn."

Firewall left Starscream's quarters in a rage, Thundercracker and Sideways still in tow. All though angry the red and black Decepticon's CPU was still clicking away. He knew for a fact that if the other cons had not been in the room he could have severely wounded or maimed Starscream in a fight but instead he had been forced to sit and take his beating like a 'loyal' mech.

'_I still have the advantage.' _Firewall thought to himself as he paced down the corridor towards the medical bay. _'I alone know where the new power source is located and how to obtain it. It was within my grasp today…curse those Autobots and their medaling. Barricade said he left the rouge leader to the humans…Fool!' _

He looked over his shoulder only to find Thundercracker and Sideways still following him. He growled in slight annoyance and then turned back to his thoughts._ 'Barricade honestly believes the Signal Fire leader would be brought to an end by organics? That just goes to show how little he knows about the kind of power the rouge holds at his disposal…' _

Firewall paused in his thoughts as he stopped outside of the medical bay. He looked over his shoulder at Sideways and Thundercracker. "You two will leave me be now. I am not a sparkling that requires constant watch."

Sideways snarled and disappeared. Thundercracker stood there for a few moments, acting as if he wanted to say something but then changed his mind. Firewall was let alone and for a few moments he stood there.

'_Ill I need to do now is get one or two of the other Decepticons to ally themselves with me and I can set my plan in motion…' _with that thought wrapped firmly around his CPU he entered the medical bay.


	7. Chapter Seven: Morning

**Chapter Seven: Morning**

Lydia gave a small shiver as she stretched and lay back against Firefly's leg. Neither of them had even attempted to sleep again after waking a couple hours ago. Firefly looked down at the girl as she again shivered slightly and huddled a bit further down into her sweatshirt. The red mech blinked slowly and lifted his head, looking around the clearing. The sun had only just begun its accent into the sky and the clearing was still in night time's shadow. It was cold in the shade, putting more of an emphasis on the fact summer slowly but surely coming to an end.

Firefly moved to stand up, the combination of cold and staying in the one position for so long making his newly repaired joints stiff.

Lydia stood as well, looking up at the Signal Fire leader, "You all right Fly?"

The red mech looked down at the girl and nodded. "I'm well enough. Just a bit put out by the fact that the weather is already changing again."

Lydia smirked, "At least winter here will be milder than it was in Colorado."

Firefly nodded as he offered his hand to Lydia and the girl climbed on. "Even Crossfire couldn't argue with that logic. But for now let's find a patch of sun. No reason to suffer through cold if we don't have to."

He entered the tree line, reflections of his dream the night before momentarily flashing through his processors. The Signal Fire leader gave a prolonged blink, pushing the thought away even as Solarflare's words echoed faintly. _Flames will end tyranny and, like a phoenix from the ashes, the fallen will rise anew. _He flicked an audio receptor. The words would have to be analyzed more thoroughly later. For now what surrounded him was nothing to his dream the prior night. Lydia sat safely in his hand and early morning sunlight lit the tops of the trees as birds began to sing. He could see the edge of the band of trees within a few strides and when they emerged, it was out onto a hill top that sloped steeply down into the valley below not a desolate plain.

Firefly set Lydia down as he took in the scenery. Dark green bands of trees cascaded down across the lighter green hillsides, patches of long grass separating each small stand, late blooming flowers dotted through the grass and all was bathed in the golden light of early morning. Song birds were beginning to fill the air and there was the occasional rustle of a deer or some other animal from just beyond the edge of the trees. A contented sigh issued from the red bot. This planet truly was beautiful and extremely peaceful when given the chance to be so.

It was already comfortably warm in the sun and the day would be even warmer. Lydia paced the edge of the hill a few times, looking down into the valley below which was still filled with morning mist. She picked up a rock and looked out over the valley again, a small smirk tugging at the corner of her mouth. She threw the rock down the hillside and it bounced off the ground, disappearing into the mist. Firefly quirked a brow ridge as he watched her repeat this process a few times.

"What are you doing?" The mech asked.

The girl simply shrugged in reply and continued. The Signal Fire leader guessed that this was simply one of the many things humans did for no particular reason and settled down on the grass. His audio receptors twitched slightly as he picked up the sounds of something moving through the undergrowth. He turned his head, looking over his shoulder into the woods beyond but the rustling had already stopped. Firefly shrugged lightly, dismissing the noise for some sort of animal passing through.

That assumption was proved wrong not two seconds later when something hit him heavily from behind, knocking him onto his chest plate. Lydia whipped around, startled by the sudden commotion. The girl almost immediately calmed though as she saw who had caused all the commotion. Firefly looked over his shoulder just as his assailant leapt over his head and went to greet Lydia.

The girl patted the small mechs face plate. "Good morning, Twobit!" The green armored mech chirped in greeting as Crossfire came out of the woods, giving Firefly a hand up.

"How are you feeling big bot?" The red mech dusted himself off a bit.

"A little stiff in the joints but well enough, any news from the Autobots this morning?"

Crossfire shook his head, "No news. Although we should probably go back to the clearing and wait there since you told Ratchet that was where you would stay." The dark blue armored Cybertronian stated pointedly.

Firefly rolled his optics and then gave Crossfire a friendly shove. "Don't cop an attitude with me lieutenant. That clearing was starting to feel like a cage. "He shrugged, "We are still in the general area. But if you are insistent we will go back."

Crossfire crossed his arms over his chest, "I am persistent and you should know that by now."

Firefly shook his head gently as Twobit came back over to them, Lydia perched on his back. She smiled up at him and the mech again smirked before leading them all back to the clearing. The small faction settled, Firefly running checks on his systems as Crossfire stood watch.

Twobit took to exploring, flipping over rocks and examining the flora and fauna. He paused a few times, taking samples of the soil or a particular plant species. During the entire process he was chattering almost constantly, either in cybertronian or simply in clicks and other varied noises. The small mech learned this way and it was one of the multiple reasons he made such a spectacular scout.

He would cross reference his own findings as he explored using the internet but only rarely used the extensive data base to look for something he had not yet come across himself. The small bot would share information almost constantly with the other two members of the faction and it helped all three stay very well informed. Firefly watched in amusement as the small scout sprang up into a nearby tree, upsetting some of the local winged wildlife before ascending the large plant.

The Signal Fire commander was just about to speak to the bot when the sound of an engine and tires on the soil in the distance brought his attention away. He immediately took up a defensive tact.

"Twobit. Stay up there and remain hidden until we are positive of who is coming!" The small mech clicked an affirmative even as Firefly looked to Crossfire and the two mechs transformed into their alternative modes. Lydia made herself scarce, hiding in the underbrush even as the sounds of vehicle drew near.

Firefly put all his sensors on alert but couldn't get a read. If it was the Autobots returning they were keeping their energy signatures cloaked much like the Signal Fire bots were. A few more moments passed before a yellow camaro broke through the trees and came to a stop in the clearing about five feet from where Firefly and Crossfire sat. Sam and Mikaela both climbed out of the vehicle which put the Signal Fire leader at slight ease. That is until both humans backed away from the yellow camaro, eyeing Firefly wearily. The three vehicles all sat there unmoving as the dust from the sports cars arrival settled.

Quiet reigned for what felt like an eternity before it exploded, transforming and rearranging into its cybertronian form even as the camaro launched itself at the jeep sitting there. Firefly wasted no time, transforming even as the newcomer flew at him. He caught the other, locking hands with the smaller bot as a struggle of strength took place, both pushing heavily on one another in an attempt to gain the upper hand. Both of the newly arrived humans scrambled out of the way to avoid getting accidentally stepped on and Crossfire backed up, retaining his vehicle form for the moment.

Dark green optics locked with blue and neither left the other as the mechs stomped around and around the clearing in each other's grip. The yellow bot suddenly slipped giving Firefly the upper hand and he took full advantage, flipping the smaller mech over his shoulder and landing him hard on the ground behind him before spinning around, planting a foot on the others chest and lifting a fist to deal a blow to the others head. Sam momentarily started as if he almost wanted to help the yellow bot but held himself back. Defiance ran through the newcomers optics as he glared up at the red armored Cybertronian and time seemed to stop, the forest quiet as the wildlife had all been scared off by the sudden commotion.

The moments ticked and Firefly suddenly cracked a robotic smile, keeping his foot on the others chest plate as he lowered his arm and leaned on his raised knee. "Bumblebee, ya slaggard! I barely recognized you!" The yellow mech under foot shrugged, his own amusement showing as much as it could on his features.

"The same could be said about you Firefly. Have you gotten fatter?"

The red mech snorted even as he lifted his foot, giving the Autobot a hand up, "Very funny Bumbles."

Bumblebee flinched lightly. "Primus, I hate that nickname."

Another smirk from Firefly as he looked at his old friend, "I know."

Sam and Mikaela both relaxed as they realized that the two were just playing and were not actually going to rip one another limb from limb. Bumblebee rolled his optics and was just about to press the other young mech for news of what had been going on since they had last seen each other but was interrupted by the sound of more engines approaching. Neither bothered transforming into their disguises this time around and Crossfire even transformed as Twobit dropped down from out of the tree he had been in and cantered over on all fours before straightening up to stand by his leaders side.

Lydia emerged as well, sticking close to Firefly. The mech briefly glanced down at her, knowing the human was nervous despite the fact she wouldn't verbalize it for any reason. He stepped foreword slightly, getting between the girl and the quickly growing rumble of what was obviously more than one vehicle. The other two humans moved to stand by Bumblebee seconds before three vehicles entered the clearing.

A large semi truck flanked by two other vehicles that Firefly immediately identified as Ratchet and Ironhide. The semi truck stopped roughly a foot and a half from where the young red mech and his small group stood and all three transformed. The Signal Fire bots stood at attention, watching the new arrivals and Firefly couldn't help but be somewhat awed as the truck unfolded to reveal himself to be none other than Optimus Prime.

Twobit could not help but shrink back slightly. The mech was small, standing at roughly ten feet high while Optimus was a good twenty eight feet tall if not more. The Autobot leader looked between the three bots in front of him before his light blue optics locked on Firefly like a crosshair. The mech had to fight himself inwardly for a moment to keep from stepping back as Twobit had. It was not out of fear but utter and complete respect. It was something the Prime demanded without asking for and was readily given by almost every being that came from Cybertron.

His reputation was legendary around the cosmos and Firefly had never dealt with the leader directly. His momentary lapse of confidence was quickly pushed aside though; he was leader of his faction now. That meant he was expected to have the ability to face anything in his path without wavering or backing down.

Optimus spoke. "Lieutenant Firefly. It took longer for you and your faction to reach Earth than I expected. My men have informed me that you were the cause of the disruption in the city yesterday and that your commander, Solarflare was not present. Were you separated? I would like to speak with him."

Firefly's audio receptors twitched and flattened slightly. The question was so direct that there was no way for him to dodge around it. He exhaled lightly from his vents. "With all due respect, Optimus I am no longer a lieutenant. I am the soul leader of the Signal Fire faction now."

Bumblebee's audios twitched and lifted slightly, the yellow bot obviously surprised by the others response. Optimus' tone was serious, "He was killed then." '

Firefly nodded slowly. "He died in battle and was then taken from us by Decepticons."

Optimus shook his head. "Megatron and his ilk have no respect for the living or the dead…weather it's their own or not."

Ironhide suddenly interjected. "No body because it was taken by the Decepticons? That's a load of slag if ever I heard one! For all we know Firefly killed Solarflare for his position as faction leader and disposed of his body somewhere in the outer most reaches of space!"

Firefly's attention snapped to Ironhide, door wings and audio receptors snapping up, an auto response to a threat or a challenge. He was making himself look bigger. The red mech gave an animal like snarl. "You DARE accuse me of killing the only bot in this whole damned universe I respected deeply. I swear from the very pits to Primus, Ironhide I will…."

He was interrupted suddenly, " Firefly I am going to have to request you stand down." Optimus stated, stepping between the Signal Fire leader and Ironhide who had brought his weapons online and had advanced a few steps when he had made the comment, but Bumblebee had grabbed him and was now trying to push him back.

The smaller mech stood there for a moment, bristling and heated but quickly cooled under the steady stare of the Autobot leader. His wings flattened back down and his audios lowered, the young bot exhaling through his vents as he calmed back to normal. Seeing the faction leader calm, Optimus turned to the weapons specialist.

"Ironhide you will stand down and keep your ungrounded thoughts to yourself or report back to base."

There was no room for argument in the statement and the black mech knew that. He snorted, shoving Bumblebee off of himself and bringing his cannons offline as he stepped back from the group. Optimus turned his attention back to Firefly as Ironhide retreated, intending to inquire as to the exact details of the late Signal Fire leaders demise only to find him bent low, Lydia standing close to him, hand on his shoulder.

The Autobot leader's curiosity rose as the girl looked up at him through her bangs. She seemed weary and a bit put off by Firefly's sudden anger. The semi truck robot bent himself down so he was a bit closer to the humans level and she almost immediately took a step back.

"Do not be afraid. I will not harm you." He stated simply. "What is your name?"

Again the girl watched him for a few moments and then replied, lifting her chin to look the other in the optic as she spoke. "My name is Lydia Fenrow…who are you?"

"My name is Optimus Prime. And I am the leader of the Autobot faction. You are already familiar with our medical officer Ratchet and our weapons specialist Ironhide. The one you have yet to meet is Bumblebee. He is our scout and Samuel Witwicky's guardian." He blinked. "Tell me. Did Firefly take you as his charge?"

The girl nodded. "Yeah. I've been with the Signal Fire bots since they landed on this planet half a year ago."

A slight hum and the large mech looked to Firefly. There were many details missing involving the young leader and he felt that it would be better to fill in the gaps without interruption from the other members of the two factions. He turned with the intention of heading out of the clearing

"Firefly, I need to speak with you in private. Follow me." He looked at his men. "The rest of you stay here. We will return shortly."

Firefly nodded to his own men, silently telling them that they were to follow the same orders that had been given to the Autobots and stay in the clearing. That taken care of the two faction leaders transformed and disappeared.


End file.
